This bookstore has turned all books by male authors backwards — and the pictures are so revealing
People are using a wide variety of tactics to make an impact during Women’s History Month, and some of them are super creative. To make a point about the gender disparity in the book industry, a bookstore has turned all books by men backwards — and the pictures of the shelves at Loganberry Books in Cleveland are powerful and shocking.
Like so many other fields, women are depressingly underrepresented in literature — and Harriet Logan, the bookstore’s founder and owner, makes an effort all year round to carry as many female authors as possible.
“I have been bookselling for over 20 years, and every year I have taken the time and effort to highlight women’s works for Women’s History Month in March, Logan told BuzzFeed. “This year, I wanted to do something different, something that would highlight not just the good works by women, but also the disparity in the industry. As someone who tries to carry female authors, the effect is shocking.
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Logan estimates that approximately 37% of the fiction books carried by Loganberry were penned by women — and she plans to keep the display up until March 15th.
“I want people to think: is the gender gap really this uneven, and why? What does my personal library look like? What can be done to change this imbalance? And then go find a title by a female author you may or may not be familiar with — it’s easy to find them — and give it a try, she told BuzzFeed.
Re-shelving approximately 10,000 books is no small feat — so Logan held a live performance art project to get the job done.
Not only has the bookstore received an overwhelmingly positive response from Loganberry’s customers, but other members of the literary community have taken notice.
“A male teacher from St. Augustine, Florida, told me he turned all the male-authored books backwards in his classroom for the month of March, and had a discussion with his students about gender disparity in such an important educational industry," Logan said.
As Loganberry’s display shows, we can adjust our every day hobbies and habits in order to elevate women’s voices — there’s certainly no shortage of amazing books by female authors, so let’s support them and show the publishing industry that female voices are invaluable to literature.
